TMZ Hip Hop - Page 50

Capitol Records is raising eyebrows with its recent signing of a digital rapper named FN Meka -- an artificial lifeform that creates music through computer intelligence -- and veteran human MC Krayzie Bone has mixed thoughts!

We got the Bone Thugs-N-Harmony member outside of Dash Radio and on one hand, he thinks it could start a booming trend ... which isn't hard to see, given the popularity of TikTok, the metaverse and cryptocurrency.

Of course, Krayzie sees the writing on the wall ... real rappers could be out of work and label signings as a result of the digital uprising.

He's not alone in his thinking ... The Game, Lil Mama and R&B singer Sammie all railed against the announcement ... forcing FN Meka (or its handlers) to make the Instagram account private, which is not a good look for a new artist -- real or otherwise.

One weighty cosign FN Meka has going for him/it is Gunna, who was featuring with gaming streamer Clix on the AI rapper's debut single, "Florida Water."

Krayzie also took time out to address the ongoing legal drama brewing between Swizz Beatz, Timbaland and their Verzuz partners at Triller.

If you remember, Krayzie was a part of one of the most memorable episodes ... Bone Thugs Verzuz Three 6 Mafia, most notable for Bizzy Bone's wild on-stage brawl that almost shut down the event.

Beyonce and Jay-Z are doing their own version of "The Love Boat" -- sailing the high seas through Europe ... this after setting the music world on fire.

The couple was spotted Monday on a mega yacht -- a multi-level vessel that looks damn expensive -- where they were looking out onto the ocean blue ... or at least Bey was, snapping some pics with a digital camera.

Jay eventually was out there as well -- and he, too, was taking photos -- not too far from their kids, who were enjoying an onboard swim with nannies and staff in tow. When you're this rich and you're cruising on a boat this nice ... that's how ya do childcare.

Take a look at this thing in the wide shots ... it's like a floating palace on water.

Seems like the Carter-Knowles brood is enjoying these final days of summer ... but if we're being honest, they can kinda take a vacation like this anytime they want.

Their trip here is well-deserved. Bey's fresh off a major album drop -- her eighth solo project, "Renaissance" topped the charts and crushed in sales ... despite some early criticism of its dance tracks.

Firmly back on her throne ... Queen Bey apparently needs some R&R. Or, in this case, mega R&R.

Vanessa Bryant had some emotional support Monday in her trial against L.A. County over crash-site photos ... walking in shoulder to shoulder with Ciara and Monica.

The 2 singers arrived with VB and her daughter Natalia ... all the women forming a united front. They sat behind Vanessa during testimony from an internal officer with the Sheriff's Dept.

They never left her side ... at certain points in Monday's proceedings, Vanessa had to step outside -- and both Monica and Ciara went out with her.

The trial's been going on for nearly two weeks, and it's been an emotional rollercoaster for the Bryant family ... and Vanessa in particular. She got on the stand herself last week to testify about how the thought of photos of her late husband and daughter's remains being circulated among County employees -- including first responders -- mortified her to this day.

As you know ... she's suing L.A. County for emotional distress, among other claims, and the jury got to hear firsthand how this whole ordeal has affected her since Kobe and Gigi's passing.

Vanessa has remained stoic as she comes and goes each day -- but inside it's been difficult for her ... especially during graphic testimony.

"Airplanes" rapper B.o.B is brushing off student protestors upset some of his past lyrics are being construed as anti-semitic.

Members of the University of Central Florida Jewish community have called for a boycott of his upcoming August 25 tour appearance for their Welcome Week … citing his 2016 flat-earther, Neil deGrasse Tyson-dissing track “Flatline” for its olive branch extended towards Holocaust denier David Irving.

Bobby Ray tells TMZ Hip Hop he doesn’t have any issues with any colors or creeds, and the show will go on as planned this week.

B.o.B says that particular time period was a weird one for him -- but he learned a lot through massive book consumption and traveling the globe.

He even considers himself a cancel culture survivor ... having taken lumps on social media for his deep philosophical dives.

The enigmatic rapper just released a 12-song album titled “Better Than Drugs” ... but says he’ll clarify his past flat-earthing and other conspiracy theories on a new song called “TED Talk” to be released on another project in the near future.

B.o.B acknowledges his mind is a strange one ... and says great artists such as Kendrick Lamar and Drake share his pain.

DJ Drama wants all the smoke ... he's letting his feelings and frustrations be known regarding his artist Lil Uzi Vert and Jay-Z's Roc Nation -- even as he sends some trash talk back DJ Khaled's way!

While talking to thriving ex-Joe Budden podcasters Rory & Mal, the Gangsta Grillz creator accused Roc Nation management of running a "Free Uzi" campaign against his Generation Now record label back in 2019.

Uzi had gone public with his issues with Drama and GN at the time ... but Drama says it was Roc's notion it had "saved" Uzi from his deal that truly pissed him off!

Drama says Roc Nation basically painted him and GN co-founders Don Cannon and Leighton “Lake” Morrison as culture vultures. It would take several years to repair the relationship with Uzi, but they eventually did.

After blowing off steam, Drama also officially accepted DJ Khaled's open-ended Verzuz challenge ... after the Miami-bred producer recently went on "Drink Champs" and claimed he would "smoke" all comers.

Both legendary disc jocks claim to have culture-shattering records -- Khaled is prepping his upcoming "God Did" album with confirmed guest appearances from Drake, Lil Baby, Lil Durk, 21 Savage and more.

But Drama just might be feeling himself about what's yet to come.

Nicki Minaj's new song "Super Freaky Girl" is now officially historic, shooting to the top of the charts, with the most pure sales of any track released in 2022.

The song makes the diamond-selling artist the first female rapper to debut at No. 1 since Lauryn Hill's iconic song "Doo Wop (That Thing)" hit big back in 1998.

On Monday, Nicki celebrated her 1st No. 1 with her fans, the Barbz ... crediting their everlasting fandom for pushing the song past the works of Lizzo, Future and Harry Styles.

"Super Freaky Girl" serves as Nicki's first solo No. 1 hit ... having scored a pair previously with 6ix9ine and Doja Cat.

Afroman's weekend was capped off by a lot of police activity -- his house was raided by law enforcement ... who were apparently on a drug hunt, and came in guns drawn.

The rapper -- who's originally from Palmdale, CA -- tells TMZ ... the Adams County Sheriff's Dept. burst into his property Sunday with their weapons drawn and orders being shouted. We're told they were in search of narcotics ... but in the end, came up empty-handed.

Afroman says he's not sure why they thought he was stashing illicit substances ... because all he had on hand, he insists, was a jar of hemp and a vape pen ... nothing else.

Afroman says he wasn't home at the time -- he was in Chicago -- he was notified by his neighbors, who got video and photos of the raid. Afroman tells us the believes this attempted bust is complete BS ... suggesting he was profiled over his music.

As you may know ... Afroman has a long history of rapping about weed and other misadventures. It's weird though -- his most famous songs are from back in the day, so if this music theory holds up ... it doesn't quite explain why cops thought something was amiss.

We've tried reaching out to the Sheriff's Dept. multiple times this morning to get an explanation on what exactly led to this and what they say they found, if anything. So far they haven't responded.

Afroman himself is outraged ... he took to IG to offer a bit more context on why this may have happened. According to him, it could have to do with him checking on a police report regarding a burglary at his home -- something ACSD apparently wasn't pleased with.

He writes, "One time my house got burglarize while I was on tour. For home insurance purposes I tried to fill out a police report. The cop came out three days later he told me they was really busy. He took my report. I would call every day and see if there was any progress being made. The Adams county sheriff department threaten to arrest me for checc-ing up on the case too frequently."

Afroman adds, "I excepted the fact that the police department is not necessary here to protect and serve me a blacc man in America so I just took my loss and never called bacc. Now here they are kicc-ing in my door looking for weapons of mass destruction and 100,000,000 pounds of weed lol wow Donald Trump calls these investigations witchhunts."

Fetty Wap will be sentenced to at least 5 years behind bars after pleading guilty to a federal drug charge.

Fetty was in court Monday where he pled guilty to one count of intent to distribute controlled substances including cocaine, heroin and fentanyl for his arrest back in October.

Two of his co-defendants, Robert Leonardi and Anthony Cyntje pleaded guilty to the same count, in addition to firearms charges.

According to a rep for the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York ... the 31-year-old rap star faces a mandatory minimum sentence of five years in prison. Officials are estimating he’ll serve anywhere between 87-108 months … but he can't get less than the 5-year minimum. We're told Fetty is currently in custody.

TMZ broke the story … Fetty was traveling for Rolling Loud New York when feds apprehended him and his co-defendants and accused them of using USPS trucks to smuggle drugs. Over the course of their investigation, feds say they uncovered $1.5 million in cash, 16 kilograms of cocaine, 2 kilograms of heroin, fentanyl pills and several guns.

Fetty also has another case pending ... for allegedly making death threats during a December 2021 Facetime call.

Leon Edwards' crazy upset win over Kamaru Usman at UFC 278 made Drake's pockets a bit lighter this weekend -- 'cause the rapper lost out on a $200k bet!!

"The Nigerian Nightmare" was handed just his second professional loss after a head-kick knockout in the fifth round ... a result that had the fighting world absolutely shocked.

Drizzy was so confident the fight would end up in Usman's favor, he actually put up nearly a quarter million on an Usman knockout.

Of course, that didn't happen ... so all that dough went down the drain.

Edwards got wind of Champagne Papi's bet ... and made sure to clap back at the rapper in his post-fight interview, telling him to make the right decision next time.

As it turns out, Drake was taking Ls left and right on Saturday ... because he also lost $230k after Jose Aldo lost to Merab Dvalishvili.

It's become a trend for Drake to place massive sports bets ... but it hasn't gone too well for him over the years -- he's lost close to a million bucks on UFC fights alone.

Blueface's girlfriend is in police custody after punching him square in the face -- the second time in less than a month -- but he's begging cops to let her go free.

Chrisean Rock unloaded on the rapper Sunday night while they were in Whiskey Row bar in Scottsdale, AZ. Blueface was standing in front of Chrisean when she hauled back and struck him twice in the face.

She landed both shots, sending Blueface backward and he made no attempt to go back at her. Instead, security took her down ... pinning Chrisean to the ground until Scottsdale PD arrived to haul her off in handcuffs.

So, Blueface's reaction to the violent incident? "Free Rock!!!"

He posted a video saying, "We don't ever make the same mistake twice" ... clearly referring to their very public fight earlier this month.

TMZ broke the story when they both went at each other on the streets of Hollywood -- Chrisean threw the first punch, but Blueface, who's slated to box Nick Young in a celeb event next month, fought back, pinning her to the ground. Cops didn't witness the fight, but after seeing video said they'd opened an investigation.

Nothing's come of that incident yet, and the couple never broke up over it, but now -- with Chrisean in jail -- Blueface says he wants her freed, we think. He was kinda laughing during the video.

One thing he didn't laugh about was the punch, as he put it ... "She hit me with a banger. I was like, oooh!!!"

If you were at the Encore in Vegas Saturday, it looked like the TMZ Celebrity Tour, because The Weeknd, Travis Scott, Swedish House Mafia and Tyga all showed up in the same lobby!!!

Travis was the first to show at around 4 PM ... the father of Kylie Jenner's 2 kids was hangin' alone. He kept his head down to avoid the crowds and then disappeared.

A short time later, Tyga showed up in the same lobby with bodyguards and beelined it for the valet. He caused a little commotion as several women lasered in for his attention. Kylie's ex then drove off.

And then just a few minutes later ... The Weeknd got out of the elevator and walked over to the guys from SHM, hugging them and shaking their hands and then chit-chatting for a few minutes. He left with model Simi Khadra.

The Weeknd had a job to do that night ... he headlined at the Allegiant Stadium for his After Hours Til Dawn Tour.

Travis showed up for The Weeknd's show in Vegas, he was also there the night before in Denver. Tyga was also at the concert and watched from the Wynn field club in Allegiant stadium.

Swedish House Mafia also had a big night, kicking off their residency at XS nightclub at The Wynn -- one of the best selling shows in venue history. The Weeknd was in attendance after his concert.

The Weeknd's Saturday night concert was not without incident ... a fire erupted outside the venue at around 11 PM as fans were leaving.

Antonio Brown's decided to treat himself following the success of his new song and dance by copping an insane "The Godfather" watch ... that's filled with 666 diamonds!

TMZ Sports has learned the former NFL wideout hit up Jacob and Co. earlier this week to pick up the timepiece ... and the classic mob film-inspired watch came pretty epic.

We're told it features a miniature Vito Corleone (played by actor Marlon Brando) in the middle of it with his iconic black tux. It also has a hand-painted black piano ... and a Swiss music box that plays the first 120 notes of the movie's theme song!

And, get this ... the music box is played by two cylinders that are paved with 666 brilliant round diamonds and 18k of rose gold!

We're told AB also got a second watch on the shopping spree -- a rose gold Bugatti Chiron Tourbillon that has a crankshaft that turns 16 piston pumps up and down ... like a real engine.

The Super Bowl champ spent somewhere in the neighborhood of $800k for both watches ... and even though AB hasn't earned any money on an NFL field in a few months, he has collected over $80 million in his 12-year NFL career.

Quando Rondo got caught in the middle of a deadly shooting in broad daylight in L.A. on Friday ... triggering a freak-out from the rapper.

Videos circulating online show Quando CLEARLY upset while talking to a police officer in West Hollywood right after the bloodshed. In the videos, Quando appears very animated, flailing his arms and stumbling backward.

At one point, Quando sees the police drag a body out of a black Escalade and he promptly walks away, screaming in agony.

A rep for Quando tells us the rapper is "OK," but then clammed up on us.

Law enforcement tells TMZ ... several gunmen drove to a gas station in Beverly Grove and opened fire, hitting a young man.

His friends loaded him into the black SUV and drove about a mile to West Hollywood, where they were stopped by police officers responding to the shooting scene. This was where the videos of Quando were shot and it appears he's just a witness.

Cops gave CPR to the victim, who was breathing, but not conscious. An ambulance rushed the victim to the hospital, where he died.

The suspects fled in a white sedan.

Quando is no stranger to gun violence. He and his crew were shot at in Blackshear, Georgia, back in May 2021. One of his handlers was wounded in that attack.

Then, in November 2020, King Von was shot dead at an Atlanta hookah lounge following a confrontation between his crew and Quando's entourage.

Akon is jumping to Kanye West's defense in a big way, telling all the critics they're hypocrites for blasting Ye for what they say is disrespecting the homeless ... yet doing nothing about it themselves.

Akon says Kanye owes zero apologies for the containers in Gap stores featuring his fashions. As you know, Ye's getting dragged by folks who believe the containers are garbage bags and it mocks the homeless when customers have to root around inside the bags for the perfect hoodie.

Fact is ... they're not garbage bags ... they're containers and it's a unique presentation that actually has customers venturing into Gap stores ... something done with less and less frequency these days.

Akon says Kanye has no reason to apologize or explain himself ... he's just a guy who happens to be really creative, and owes no explanation to anyone.

Kanye made that point clear to Fox Friday ... he's not explaining or offering any mea culpa.

Akon says Kanye's actually put a spotlight on the homeless problem, and if people are so concerned then they should roll up their sleeves and do something!

DJ Drama's iconic mixtape series 'Gangsta Grillz' has been a fixture in hip hop music for three decades now ... giving star rappers such as Lil Wayne, T.I., and Snoop Dogg a voice outside the traditional music industry agreements.

Well get this, sources connected to the project tell TMZ Hip Hop there are currently more tapes being put together. We're told Drama is "in discussion" with both Tory Lanez and Yo Gotti's CMG artist EST Gee to boost their catalogs with "GG" projects.

Our sources say Meek Mill is also on the shortlist for a new "GG" project, which would be another facet in his comeback to music. As we told you, the Dreamchasers CEO just signed a new deal with WME and made a $10M bet to all industry bigwigs who think his rap career is in the coffin.

NLE Choppa is all for innovation in the bedroom, saying he thinks there's a part of the body that's rarely explored that should be ... the armpit!!!

We caught up with NLE Friday at LAX, who's been on a raunchy rampage since his "Slut Me Out" single dropped ... and sharing with the world he licks his girl's pits, saying, "my saliva yo deodorant."

NLE dissects the meaning behind his tweet, telling us all sorts of things have become more common in the bedroom in recent years, so armpits should fall under the same category.

We also picked NLE's brain regarding the recent rapper face-tat boom ... brought forth by Drake and Cardi B -- who's yet to actually reveal hers.